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Thursday, 30 July 2015

Student blogger of the weekI would like to draw your attention to Nisha Wilson's informative blog this week. Nisha is in Year 6 in Senior Hub 2. You can read about Nisha's term 2 learning highlights and her career aspirations by going to this link. Keep up the great blogging Nisha.

School Council for Term 2 and 3We had our first meeting for the term this week. Our new councillors were presented with their badges last Friday. You can read about their first meeting by going to the link.Here is the link to the latest school council news.

Sports Committee NewsThe Sports Committee met on Monday. We agreed to ask families to revisit our Sports Code of Conduct. You can read more in the minutes from our meeting.Here is the link to the latest sports committee minutes.Recognition in the July Ministry Leadership BulletinJulie Anderson is the Director for Education at the Otago, Southland ministry office. Julie joined principals and board chairs at a meeting held in Oamau last term. Tua Misiloi our board chairperson and I gave a presentation about the work of the Pasifika cluster. This work has been acknowledged in the national ministry bulletin. You can read more by going to this link.

Good luck to all of our children playing sport this weekend and to our children that have made the rep squads.

We also hope that the many children who are unwell, feel better very soon.

Here is something that may brighten your day.

These three boys from Junior Hub 2 came to share their haka singing with me. They proudly told me that they were so good because they are three of the leaders. This is a sneak preview of what the junior hubs have been learning as they prepare for the Kapahaka Festival and show us how to Reach for the Stars as Lifelong Learners in the Catholic faith.

For the next two weeks our Year 4 children will be preparing to receive the Eucharist for the first time. On Thursday 13th August the children will be receiving Reconciliation with Father Wayne after Mass in preparation before receiving the Eucharist on Sunday 16th August at the 9.30am Mass. We will also be having a practice on Friday 14th August at 1.30pm in the Church. Parents are also welcome to join us at the Reconciliation and the practice. I have sent home a pink notice with details about First Communion. Please come and see me if you have any questions or send me an email.

To make this day a day to remember we need help with setting up the hall on Friday 14th after school. This does not take very long. We also need help with serving the morning tea on Sunday. I will send a note home to the parents of last years First Communion children to see if you are able to help.Next week (Wednesday 5th August) we will be having morning tea with our prayer partners to say thank you. This is such a lovely way of coming together with members of our Parish. Could the children preparing for First Communion please bring a small plate to share at morning tea. Thank you.Take Care and God Bless.

News Blog
Next week the school news blog will come out on Wednesday and not Thursday as Mrs Brien is away.

St Joseph's School Enrolment Days
Enrolment meetings for 2016 will be held on Tuesday 18th August from 10.45 am to 4.00 pm and Wednesday 19th August from 10.45 am to 3.00 pm. These meetings are for children who will be starting school next year. Please contact the office to make a time.

Lost Property
There is a huge number of lost clothing in the sick bag especially unnamed jackets, jerseys, track pants and a pair of swimming togs in a red bag. Please have a look to see if your missing clothing are in there.

Scholastic Book Club
Orders are due back to the office by tomorrow Friday 31st July.

Home & School
Reminder that the First Aid kit orders and money are due back at the office by Thursday 6th August.

School Canteen
The canteen is operating again for term 3. The orders have to be in by 3.00 pm on Wednesday for Friday lunches. Order bags are available from the office.

Cross Country Help
Mrs Souness is wanting at least 12-15 parents to help as marshals for our school cross country on Tuesday 11th August. Please email Mrs Souness on tsouness@stjoseph.school.nz if you can help. She will contact you directly in regard to your instructions. Remember we cannot run the cross country without your help.

Colgate Boxes and Tubes
Remember to keep bringing the empty Colgate boxes and tubes to the school office so we can send them away for rewards.

Welcome
We warmly welcome Eva Fatafehi who started school this week to our new entrants class.

CongratulationsSchool Councillors
Congratulations to the following children who were named school councilors for terms 3 and 4 and were presented with their badges last Friday.

Veritas Award
Congratulations to Maria Wallace who was presented with the Veritas Award, a prestigious award presented to one Year 8 student per term. She was given this award in recognition of her standards of achievement in all areas of learning and her determination to take part in all facets of school life.

Coaches
please remind your teams of how many goals they scored last week so they can
bring their goal-a-thon cards back to netball this Saturday. The cards can be dropped off at the netball
office.

Prize giving

The final
day of netball will be on Saturday 15th August and our St Joseph’s
netball prize giving will be held in the school hall on Thursday 20 August at
3.15 pm. Can all players please bring a
plate to share.

The Miniball finals night will be held
on Tuesday 25th August and the semi-final night will be held on
Tuesday 18th August if required by your section. On finals night, the play offs will be for 1st,
2nd, 3rd and 4th place for each section with
prize giving to follow.

The basketball finals night will be held on Wednesday 26th
August and the semi-final night will be held on Wednesday 19th
August if required by your section. On
finals night, the play offs will be for 1st, 2nd, 3rd
and 4th place for each section with prize giving to follow.

Thursday, 23 July 2015

Welcome back to an exciting new term of learning and fun. The highlight of a very special first week back was the beautiful baptism of Molly Whittaker. Molly joined Year 6 at the start of the year and made the decision to be baptised herself with the support of her parents, Michelle and Paul. Molly asked Miss Huls to be her god parent. Molly was baptised by Fr Wayne during our school parish mass this morning. Congratulations to Molly on this very special day.

Ski funThe first ever St Joseph's ski programme got off to a wonderful start on Monday. The programme goes over 8 weeks and enables the children to learn to ski or snowboard and develop their abilities at Ohau ski field. A huge thanks to Mr Paul Cartlidge who coordinated a similar programme at Holy Family School in Wanaka. Thanks to Keri Robinson for helping to get this programme off the ground and promote skiing as another St Joseph's sport to add to our existing sporting codes. We aim to ensure that our children are exposed to a variety of ways to become as active as possible. You can view more photos on our blog.

Teachers as Lifelong Learners and Teacher Only Day next WednesdayOur school vision talks about lifelong learners. During the holidays, many of our teachers were busy attending courses and studying. You can read more about this by clicking on this link.Our teachers will be joining many teachers from across North Otago schools at a special spelling workshop day on Wednesday 29th July. The school will be closed on Wednesday for this teacher only day.Chris Cant presentationChris Cant was presented with his prize at school on Monday. Chris has been coaching rugby here for the last seven years and was nominated by Seth Sinclair for a Sport Otago volunteer award. Chris was presented with $500 worth of sporting gear for himself and a $500 voucher for sporting gear for the school. Mrs Souness has already ordered extra balls and equipment for the children to use at lunchtime.

Starship Mobile Phone AppealThanks to all of you who have donated your old mobile phones to the Starship appeal. We have a box in the office for the phones. Mrs Rzepecky has been sending the phones away and we have been accumulating points. We were able to order a $200 bag of sports gear including balls, cones and pumps. Please keep the phone donations coming in for this very worthwhile appeal.

Mufti Mania 2015Before the holidays we held two Highlanders Mufti Mania days and raised $481.70 for this annual Caritas appeal. This year the funds go towards resources including book, bibles, stationery and sports equipment for two Catholic primary schools in the Solomon Islands. Not only we were successful in raising money for the schools but the Highlander were very successful too!!

Junior School Kapahaka WorkshopThis morning our Junior school participated in a special Kapahaka workshop from the Manuaute Production Company. The children thoroughly enjoyed this excellent workshop and will be able to incorporate some of their new skills into their upcoming kapahaka performance. Check out the junior hub blogs for some videos of the children in action.

SNUP workSome of you may have noticed that there have been workmen around the school. Our school is presently being snupped !! School Network Upgrade Programme (SNUP) means that in a few weeks time we will have access to ultra fast broadband throughout the school. This is part of a national government initiative for all schools in New Zealand. The workers are coming in after school and working through the night. We look forward to access to ultra fast broadband to support our existing teaching and learning programmes throughout the school as we continue to Reach for the Stars as Lifelong Learners in the Catholic faith.